Toy vehicle

ABSTRACT

A toy vehicle including a device that produces sound and arranges to replay recorded sounds; and a switch that activates the device depending on motion of the vehicle.

RELATED APPLICATION

This is a §371 of International Application No. PCT/GB2004/001267, withan international filing date of Mar. 24, 2004 (WO 2005/092462 A1,published Oct. 6, 2005).

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to toy vehicles that replay recorded music orother sounds in a novel and amusing manner.

SUMMARY

This invention relates to a toy vehicle including sound-producing meansarranged to replay recorded sounds and means for activating thesound-producing means depending on motion of the vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the disclosure may be more readily understood, referencewill now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy car according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the car of FIG. 1 showing aswitch;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the switch of FIG. 2 in more detail in differentpositions; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a circuit for the toy car.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure provides a toy vehicle comprising a sound-producingmeans arranged to replay recorded sounds and means for activating thesound-producing means depending on the motion of the vehicle.

This disclosure provides a toy vehicle comprising sound-producing meansarranged to replay recorded sounds and means for activating thesound-producing means depending on the motion of the vehicle.

In one representative example, a first sound, such as a sample from arecording of music, is emitted if the vehicle is moved forwards and asecond sound is emitted if the vehicle is moved backwards. These soundsmay be arranged to be emitted for as long as the vehicle is in motion.Thus an effect similar to the “scratching” of a vinyl record by movingthe record back and forth on a record player is obtained.

A further sound, such as a musical background track, may be arranged tobe replayed for a set period of time commencing when the vehicle startsmoving.

The sound-producing means may be arranged to emit one of a plurality ofsets of recorded sounds, selectable by means of a further switch.

The sound activating means may comprise a rocker switch means urged, atleast indirectly, by a wheel of the vehicle to close a first electricalcircuit when the wheel moves in one direction and a second electricalcircuit when the vehicles moves in the opposite direction.

The vehicle may have an on/off switch for activating the vehicle andpreventing battery drain.

Turning now to the Drawings, FIG. 1 shows a toy car having wheels 1.Within the car is a sound unit 2, shown schematically in FIG. 5,connected to a loudspeaker 3.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show a switch for selectively activating the playback ofdifferent samples from the sound unit. A rocker 4 is pivotably mountedabove a small wheel 5, in turn mounted on an axle, here the rear axle,of the car. The small wheel 5 has a tire made of a material such that itwill not grip the rocker 4 unless pressure is exerted on the car fromabove. The ends of the rocker 4 are arranged below switches 6, 7 of twocircuits having contacts that are biased into an open position. Whenpressure is exerted on the car and the car is moved backwards, therocker pivots and causes switch 6 to close as shown in FIG. 4.Conversely, when pressure is exerted on the car and the car is movedbackwards, the rocker pivots and causes switch 7 to close.

As shown in FIG. 5, music samples are digitally recorded at the soundunit 2. A music loop 8 is a phrase of music which can be repeated togive a continuous background track. “Scratch” samples 9 and 10 aretriggered by the backwards and forwards movement of the carrespectively.

Operation of the sound unit starts when the car is pressed down andmoved either backwards or forwards. In either case this triggers atimer/oscillator circuit 11 which sends an oscillating signal to themusic loop segment 8 of the sound unit 2. The timer/oscillator circuitemits this signal for a pre-set period of time, e.g., 20 seconds, duringwhich time the music loop will be played if no further inputs are made.Every time either switch is operated, the timer is reset and will runfor the pre-set period of time again, so that whilst the car is beingoperated the timer is always being reset and the music will not stopuntil the car has not been operated for the pre-set period of time. Themusic loop is edge-triggered by the oscillating signal so that once itis triggered by an input it will play one cycle of the loop regardlessof whether the input signal remains “on” or not. The purpose of theoscillating signal is to re-trigger the music loop at the end of thiscycle without any delay. As an example, a frequency of 50 Hz has beenfound to work well.

The two “scratch” samples are operated by the switches 6, 7 respectivelyand are level activated so that the switch contacts must remain closedfor the sample to play. This means that the car must be held in thebackwards or forwards position for the sample to play and when it isreleased the sample will stop. If the car is operated again in the samedirection the sample will play again from the beginning. In this way,“scratch” samples can be played for longer or shorter periods and bypushing the car backwards and forwards they can be alternated andrepeated.

The samples can be preset in the toy vehicle. Alternatively, the vehiclecan include means for recording the samples, e.g., from a computer wherethey have been downloaded or from a live sound source.

The term “vehicle” as used herein is not intended to be limiting in anyway and can include objects mounted on wheels, such as robots, figures,animals, aircraft etc. as well as cars and trucks and the like, amongothers.

1. A toy vehicle comprising sound-producing means arranged to replayrecorded sounds and means for activating the sound-producing meansdepending on motion of the vehicle.
 2. The toy vehicle according toclaim 1, wherein a first sound is emitted if the vehicle is movedforwards and a second sound is emitted if the vehicle is movedbackwards.
 3. The toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the soundsare arranged to be emitted for as long as the vehicle is in motion. 4.The toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein a further sound isarranged to be replayed for a set period of time commencing when thevehicle starts moving.
 5. The toy vehicle according to claim 2, whereinthe sound-producing means is arranged to emit one of a plurality of setsof recorded sounds, selectable by means of a further switch.
 6. The toyvehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sound-producing meanscomprises means for digitally recording sounds from an external source.7. The toy vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an on/offswitch.
 8. A toy vehicle comprising: a device that produces sound andarranges to replay recorded sounds; and a switch that activates thedevice depending on motion of the vehicle.
 9. The toy vehicle accordingto claim 8, wherein a first sound is emitted if the vehicle is movedforwards and a second sound is emitted if the vehicle is movedbackwards.
 10. The toy vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the soundsare arranged to be emitted for as long as the vehicle is in motion. 11.The toy vehicle according to claim 9, wherein a further sound isarranged to be replayed for a set period of time commencing when thevehicle starts moving.
 12. The toy vehicle according to claim 9, whereinthe device is arranged to emit one of a plurality of sets of recordedsounds, selectable by a further switch.
 13. The toy vehicle according toclaim 8, wherein the device comprises means for digitally recordingsounds from an external source.
 14. The toy vehicle according to claim8, wherein the switch is an on/off switch.